We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Apollo Joseph. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Apollo below.

Apollo, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I first picked up the guitar when I was nine years old. My first mentor, Sean Martin of the San Diego band “The Heavy Guilt,” is the one who built my musical foundations, taught me my first basic chord structures, and imparted my earliest understanding of musical notation. After some time, I began teaching myself how to play and train my ear to pick up on what I hear, but I would not be where I am today without Sean’s guidance. Throughout high school, I further developed my skills. I began studying Turkish and Indian classical music and heavily incorporated semitones/microtonality into my playing. At this time, I also picked up the bass and started producing beats in FL Studio and Ableton, improving my natural sense of rhythm.

A few years later, my family and I moved to Phoenix, where I attained my degree in audio production technologies at Scottsdale Community College. During my schooling, I jumped on any learning opportunities outside the classroom I could get and worked on many live performances and studio sessions under my incredible teachers, Alejandro Gordillo and Craig Schumacher. Now, I work full-time in media production and live sound for Ambient Skies and the Crescent Ballroom in Downtown Phoenix while pursuing my artistic endeavors through music.

As an artist, it is of the utmost importance that I always seek methods to hone my craft. I am most productive when I see there is more to learn and much I do not understand. To be completely comfortable and unmotivated to grow is to be uninspired, a feeling akin to stagnation. As such, creativity is reinforced by daily habits that promote a good spirit and a healthy mind. True inspiration is also a thing that can never be forced, but rather, something that comes to the artist who has learned to open up to the world and has gained the awareness to see how abundant sources of artistic expression are all around them.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Malcolm Young, as a musician, my name is Apollo Joseph. I am a multi-instrumentalist, composer, audio engineer, and seeker of knowledge from San Diego, CA, now based in Phoenix, AZ. In the last few years, I shifted from working in kitchens to working full-time in sound mixing, content creation, and media production. I am blessed to have walked this path and to have engaged in fulfilling work. I cannot, however, dismiss my background in the kitchen and those who mentored me in those early days. Working in such an environment trains one to be disciplined and precise in their actions. Even now, while I’m working, my mind will return to those patterns that seek the most efficient way to complete a task, and my body will move at the same swift and steady pace I would regularly maintain. So, I consider it very important to show immense respect to all the chefs, line cooks, prep cooks, and dishwashers in the food industry, for they are some of the hardest-working and most persevering folk you’ll ever know.

One of my greatest takeaways as a professional in this business is the value of kindness and speaking to people on a human level. Sometimes, one can get caught up in the fast-moving mechanisms of a production, or can be intimidated by the impressive job titles of the people involved. However, behind that job title is someone’s name, and beneath that name is a human soul not too dissimilar from your own. As such, I always try to speak directly to that soul. Similarly, I also seek to see the good in people and never judge a person too harshly, for every action is ascribed to a conscious intent to live happily and well.

Being attuned to such things aids significantly in the contentment of my daily life. As an artist, I must be aware of all the details, people, intentions, and events that life presents. These artistic observations guide me through all the moments in my waking hours, even professionally. In my music, I aim to touch on stories and expressions that are true to the heart and soul of the human experience, where we come from, and where we will go.

Last month, I released my debut album, “Derelict, Nothingness…” I produced, recorded, and mastered the work entirely by myself. The philosophy behind the album was rooted in an examination and return to ancient concepts of death and what awaits us beyond this world. You see, among many indigenous cultures like my own, death is not seen as an absolute end to a linear journey of life that begins with conception, but rather, one point in the constant cycle of life and death unto rebirth. The result is a harrowing experience that aims to bridge sonic contrasts: harsh, ugliness with great beauty, and modern sounds of droning electronica with clay flutes and whistles played by my ancestors.

As an artist and a human being, I am driven to explore that which is unknown. I hope that all who hear this work may discover a similar drive or that these sounds may awaken something slumbering inside themselves.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the sense of purpose I carry into every moment. I’m seeking ways to tell stories relevant to our lives and our world at this time. Thus, everything is a source from which I can pour ideas and emotions into these projects. All are necessary, whether they are feelings of hope and happiness, anger and despair, or even broader observations of the forces of good and evil in our world.

There is also an incredible unspoken bond between fellow creatives, and it is comforting to meet others seeking and expressing something intangible. I am always intrigued to see what inspires others, especially when their perception is radically different from mine.

Ultimately, however, as a focused creative, you learn to be appreciative and grateful for your senses. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been sensitive to sound, its quality, and what’s conveyed without words. Whenever I travel, I carry my Zoom H1n audio recorder and always look for ambiance or environmental noises that incite the slightest spark of inspiration. Sometimes, it’s the distant sound of a train rolling by or the hiss of an air conditioner. More times than not, however, they come from the sounds of the wilderness, bird songs I haven’t heard before, or wind passing through the bush on a quiet morning. Many of these recordings end up in my work, and my most inspired thoughts come when I sit alone in a vast, untrammeled natural space and allow silence to reign supreme.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My art is fundamentally grounded in the attainment of a higher purpose. My mission has been to seek the knowledge of those who came before me, how they lived, and how they interpreted this Earth. My voice is one of many among the experiences shared by those of us within a global diaspora whose roots lie in a distant culture but have been shifted, carried away, and molded by the Western world. I am the first of my father’s line not to have been born in the jungles of Eastern Guatemala; as such, I feel the weight of great responsibility to all who came before me to know our people’s history, our language, our music, and the ongoing fight for equal rights still owed to Africans and Maya in Guatemala.

You see, uninhibited cultural expression is a powerful form of peaceful resistance. I grow my hair long for my ancestors who forcibly had theirs cut. I learned our stories, for so many were burnt and lost forever when we were colonized, and I play our traditional rhythms in these songs to immortalize their spirits.

In Guatemala, there are 22 different groups of Maya people, each with their own language. One of the most prominent forms of traditional Maya art is textile weaving. The fabrics and clothing of Maya weavers are unique to each group, for the patterns convey deep meanings and expressions of each group’s religious beliefs and values. They represent the profound complexities of joy, love, grief, and sadness that cannot be communicated with mere words. In examining this practice, I aim to create a musical tapestry. Each song is a singular thread in the context of a greater piece that reverently tells the story of my harmonious descent from the African people carried across the Atlantic Ocean to be brought to the Caribbean and the Maya who have called that beautiful jungle their home for centuries.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://apollojoseph.bandcamp.com/
• Instagram: instagram.com/apollojoseph_
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolm-young-42203b2a8/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@apollojoseph
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1wr4Tftv2ACGre9sIKdahw?si=haXIiz6hTrenvlmOGGT03w